How big it really is
10,012 km²True area · 3,866 square miles
169 / 242By area
1.45×As Mercator draws it
3,033 timesFits into Africa
6,855,713People
685People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Lebanon is at about 34° N. Mercator stretches each place by the same amount across and up, more the further it is from the equator, so here every area comes out 1.45× its true size.
At the equator nothing is stretched. At 60° north or south, everything is drawn at four times its true area. The poles never fit on the map at all.
Countries about this size
The countries just bigger and just smaller, each at its true area:
- Jamaica10,933 km²
- Kosovo10,912 km²
- Gambia10,314 km²
- Lebanon10,012 km²
- Puerto Rico8,945 km²
- French Southern Lands6,972 km²
- Palestine6,333 km²